Louder Than Words Festival in partnership with Omnibus Press
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NOVEMBER
The genre-based literary Festival celebrating words – oral, written and published - associated with the music industry. Authors, artists, poets, performers, lyrics and lyricists, journalists, DJs, bloggers and publishers of music and popular culture
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www.louderthanwordsfest.com
Wow! Another year has passed already – how quick was that? On the up side it’s terrific that our annual Louder Than Words Festival has come around so quickly and we’re delighted to be back at The Principal Hotel for a top weekend of Words, Music, literature and Conversation! Louder Than Words Festival is now recognised as the biggest Music Literature Festival in the UK and it’s a real pleasure to be working in collaboration with some of the leading names from across the publishing, literature, music and related industries. It’s wonderful to welcome back sponsors and supporters year on year, each ensuring that we’re able to bring quality and refreshment to our programme as well as embracing new riffs and refrains to what’s on offer across this top weekend of Festival fun. Likewise, we’re proud to have such a dedicated and loyal following and it’s great to welcome back familiar faces to the fold as well as extending special welcomes to audience members and contributors who are joining us for the first time. Once again, our programme is packed with high quality events that span the entire weekend. From conversations to panel discussions, poetry to biographies, surgeries to signings we’re sure we’ve
got a weekend in store that has something for everyone. From Music Hall to Punk, Indie to Mainstream, Vinyl to Streaming, Writers to Performers, Workshops to Book shops, Artists to Art Work, we’ve got offerings from the best in the business and we can’t wait to get started! Like any quality undertaking, it’s a team effort with much work going on continually behind the scenes. Louder Than Words Festival is both privileged and delighted to have a top team who work tirelessly to put this weekend together and it’s only right to specifically thank Emily Marsden and our excellent team of volunteers who ensure the weekend is delivered with the quality and efficiency we’ve become accustomed to! Thank you! Likewise, many thanks must go to our title sponsor Omnibus Press – the world’s largest specialist publisher of music-related books – who support the development and delivery of our Festival weekend at every stage. In particular, thank you to David Barraclough, Matthew O’Donoghue, Sophie Scott and David Stock – whose advice, support, recommendations, co-ordination and contributions are never underestimated or taken for granted!
Many thanks also to Zoe Howe, our Louder Luminary; Beazley Group and Risk-Box our Insurance partners; Blacka Group, our audio and tech partners; Conrad Davies our website developer; Bob Follen our artist in residence; ForViva, our community partners; Mudkiss Photography, our official Festival photographer; Pad Communications, our PR partners; Revolutions Brewing Company, our specialist brewery partners; Route our independent bookshop partners and ShooCreative our legal partners. Likewise, it’s great to welcome back Rocks Back Pages and Bloomsbury Press with sincere thanks for their support for our annual Wilko Johnson Writing Award; Wordsmith for their support and leadership of our annual poetry slam and Manchester Digital Music Archive and UnConvention who return each year with top quality panel contributions.
Special thanks must also go to Arts Council England for their continued trust, support and encouragement. All of our partners and sponsors are detailed in this programme and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all in writing and to invite anyone thinking of joining the fun to speak with us during the weekend. So! On behalf of the wider Louder Team – John Robb, Emily Marsden, Simon Morrison, Melanie Smith and the team at the Principal Hotel, I’d like to thank everyone who’s reading this introduction, everyone who’s helped to get us here and everyone who’s already thinking of joining us in 2018! Here’s to a great Louder Weekend! Dr Jill Adam Festival Director, Creator and Curator of Louder Than Words Festival.
I find it hard to believe that Omnibus has been the primary sponsor of Louder Than Words for only four years. I could have sworn it was much longer, probably because each Louder gathering has become an unmissable event, packing in so many diverse activities that even the most dedicated visitor can’t hope to catch them all. And I love the fact that the unexpected and unknown events often provide me with as much pleasure as those high-profile sessions I’m most eagerly looking forward to. Accordingly, highlights are hard to predict and all I can say is that last year I loved everything I attended, from the amazing Thunder performance to Zoë Howe’s talk about her move into fiction. I also rather relished seeing everyone stagger out of Pete Brown’s Beer and Music Matching session, even if it made me deeply regret having missed that particular event! Suffice it to say that this year’s line-up looks stronger than ever, a testament to Jill and her wonderful team’s dedication to making Louder a highlight of the events calendar for so many people, and certainly for us at Omnibus Press. Finally let me thank the large number of volunteers who have given up their free time to ensure that the festival runs smoothly; their contribution is invaluable. Now Louder Than Words 2017 beckons and I’m really looking forward to being entertained, inspired and surprised by what it has in store for us this year… and I really hope you are too! David Barraclough, Managing Editor, Omnibus Press.
SPONSORS FOR 2017: LOUDER THAN WORDS FESTIVAL
We would like to acknowledge all those who work with us to ensure the success of Louder Than Words, especially our sponsors and partners who believe in what we are doing, our vibe and our ethos.
PAUL ANDERSON Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson has been in love with Mod all his life, it seems. Throughout the 80’s to the present day he has been involved in organising many events, publishing fanzines and running club nights. As a major record collector he has DJ’d at Mod events both here and in Europe for over 25 years. Coauthor of ‘Circles - the strange story of The Fleur De Lys.’, he has also written music articles for magazines including ‘Shindig!. These days he writes sleeve-notes for the ‘History of R&B’ label ‘Soho Jazz’ LP’s plus ‘Rare Mod’ series of compilations and EP’s on Acid Jazz records. In 2011, teaming up with with Damian once more, he got to realise his dream of presenting the biggest ever exhibition of 60’s Mod related items. ‘Reading Steady Go!’ proved to be Reading museum’s most successful exhibition to date. His last book ‘Mods – The New Religion’ became a best seller, and his forthcoming books for Omnibus include ‘Mod Art’ and a book on Skinheads (1967-73).
CELESTE BELL Celeste Bell is a singer songwriter and the daughter of Poly Styrene, lead singer of X-Ray Spex. After completing her degree, Celeste spent several years in Spain where she was performing, teaching and completing her postgraduate studies, as well as working with her mother on her last album, Generation Indigo. Apart from working on the I Am a Cliché film project,
Celeste is currently collaborating on a Poly Styrene biography with music writer Zoë Howe which is due to be published by Omnibus in 2018.
MALCOLM BOYLE Malcolm Boyle is a producer, director, performer and artist. His credits include Avalon—A Field in Glastonbury, Ali G Before He Was Massif, Ideal, and Nebulous. He is currently making the feature documentary Hoppy—Underground Head, which was featured by the Victoria and Albert Museum as the climax of the launch event for their recent exhibition on underground culture. Malcolm’s work has been seen on the BBC, Channel 4, Nickelodeon, Discovery and Disney. His live work has featured at venues like Glastonbury Festival, the Royal Court and the ICA. His live show The Madcap—on Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett—toured the U.K. and featured on national BBC Radio. Malcolm’s other live work includes the Barclay’s New Stages Award-winning The Joy Of Return produced by Limn Gaza. He was also Curator of The Recurring Technicolor Dream—an ICA event celebrating 1967’s 14 Hour Technicolor Dream—Britain’s first psychedelic happening.
MICHAEL BRADLEY Michael Bradley joined his friends in a band in 1974. They became The Undertones who had several hit records. After five years as a professional band, they broke up in
1983. Michael realised he didn’t have the head or the heart to be a full time musician so got a job as a bicycle courier in London before returning home to Derry, where he has worked as a BBC radio producer since 1986. His book ‘Teenage Kicks : My Life As An Undertone’ tells the story of his time in the band from the beginnings in the front room of O’Neill’s house in Derry to being late for their last show with Feargal Sharkey. For the last eighteen years Michael has played semi professional bass guitar in The Undertones, who reformed in 1999 without telling their former singer.
DR JENNIFER OTTER BICKERDIKE Dr. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is a media and music academic and author, specializing in fan culture, the cult of dead celebrity, music and music heritage. She has written and presented extensively on fandom and media, using her experience as a former American music industry and Silicon Valley executive to explore a range of societal issues and behaviors. Jen’s recent appearances include TruTV, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC 4, Camp Bestival, Bestival at Goldsmiths University of London , Channel 4, Bass Guitar Magazine, Absolute Radio, The Guardian, Manchester Off The Record, Liverpool Sound City and Classic Album Sundays.
DAVID DUNNE David Dunne has been a constant figure in the ever-evolving dance music scene since 1988. He has been
described as “A true pioneer and champion of house music” by DJ Magazine and “the most deserving DJ to cross over to the premier league” by Radio One. His DJ career now spans over twenty years behind the decks, breaking and supporting dance music on radio and in the nation’s key clubs, including over 30 appearances at the Hacienda. Taking in stints on Piccadilly Radio during the “Madchester” era, Kiss 102 & 105 in Manchester and Yorkshire, Galaxy radio and Atlantic252, David consolidated his profile in the North of England as one of the most familiar and best-loved DJs. David estimates that he has produced and/or presented over 2100 dance music radio shows in his career so far! Since 2006, he has remixed and produced with his fellow ex-Hed Kandi DJ Andy Daniels under the name of Triple Dee, and has since remixed artists such as Simply Red, Cevin Fisher, Warren Clarke, Wawa & Herd and Dennis Christopher. David began a new radio show called The Triple Dee Radio Show in 2010 which is now syndicated to 55 stations across the world and celebrated its seventh birthday this year.
ROISIN DWYER Roisin Dwyer has worked as the Commissioning Editor of Hot Press (Ireland’s leading music magazine) for 14 years. In that role she oversees and organises all editorial content. She is also a contributor to the magazine and as well as writing reviews and interviews helms the Inside Track column reporting on the domestic music scene.
Over the years she has interviewed such luminaries as Robert Smith, Johnny Marr, Frank Black, Julian... Cope, Kevin Rowland, Chuck D and more. In addition, Roisin is a regular contributor to Arena (the national broadcaster’s flagship arts show) and also the daily Rock Report on Dublin’s Radio Nova.
DARYL EASLEA Daryl Easlea’s musical knowledge has been learnt over a lifetime: from working in record shops across the country, to being a staffer at Record Collector magazine and then moving on to become the head of Motown catalogue in the UK at Universal. DJ, compere, and consultant to record companies, his books explore his favourite loves; great pop eccentrics, populist African-American music and prog rock (he has written biographies of Chic, Sparks, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson and is now writing about Slade). His writing can be found in Mojo, Prog, Record Collector, Bass Guitar, bbc.co.uk and in lots of other places, too. He also compiles and annotates CDs. Aside from regular BBC Essex appearances, his radio broadcasting can be heard on www.sfob.co.uk; he has DJ’ed at festivals such as Village Green, V and the Big Chill, and at locations as varied as the Tate Modern Turbine Hall and the croisette at Cannes. He can also be seen in the BBC4 documentaries Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story and Nile Rodgers: The Hitmaker.
TRAVIS ELBOROUGH Described by The Guardian as “one of the country’s finest pop culture historians’, Elborough has been author, broadcaster and cultural commentator for close to two decade now. His books include Wish You Were Here, a survey of the British beside the seaside and The Long Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl that inspired the BBC4 documentary When Albums Ruled the World, in which he also appeared. . With Bob Stanley from Saint Etienne, he also co-wrote the script for How We Used to Live, a BFI archive film directed by Paul Kelly, and premiered at the 2013 London Film Festival. His liner notes can equally be found on the rear sleeve of the album ‘Words and Music by Saint Etienne‘.
GREG FENTON Greg Fenton has DJ’ed, produced and written about music for the last 32 years. As a DJ he has played extensively across the UK at the likes of Golden, Back to Basics, Venus and Sub Club as well as being resident at Manchester’s Hacienda, Dry 201 and Prague V. He also DJ’ed at the cities infamous Spice, Spacefunk, Konspiracy and Most Excellent. Greg began reviewing records back in 1991 for Mix Mag Update and has since written for i-DJ, M8, Our House Mag, and Keep On among others. He currently runs his own site MagazineSixty.com where he reviews and interviews artists.
As a producer he has released music as Soularis for Chicago’s Guidance Recordings, Hed Kandi, Refunkt, Seamless Recordings. Plus as Silver City ‘Love Infinity’ and has provided remixes for Ten City and Angel Moraes. He is currently releasing under his own name with latest release Hot Mess EP out on Digital Devil Recordings.
BOB FOLLEN Bob Follen has run BobArtModels in West Yorkshire since January 2014. Bob is a fully trained modelmaker and artist. He has been making models and art in public since 2001, his first exhibition being alongside Bill Drummond. He’s designed numerous record covers, constructed props and stage sets for films and the retail industry. His time consuming portraits are punky, fun, and really about appreciation. Bob’s wares have been sold through independent shops, museums, galleries, markets and online. A contributor to Louder since 2015, his purpose is to create an exclusive range of cards and prints, celebrating the LTWF 2017 line-up. He’s run the official BobArtModels studio workshop (housed inside Todmorden’s indoor market) since March 2016.
ROBERT FORSTER Robert Forster is a Brisbane-born and based musician and writer, and co-founder (with friend and fellow singer-songwriter Grant McLennan)
of the internationally acclaimed rock band The Go-Betweens. In 2010, four years after McLennan passed away, Brisbane honoured the cultural influence of the band by naming a new river bridge the Go Between Bridge. In 2015 Forster curated the box set G Stands for Go-Betweens Volume 1 1978–84; released his first solo album in seven years, Songs to Play; and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by his alma mater, the University of Queensland. In 2005, Robert Forster started writing a regular column for The Monthly, an Australian magazine covering the arts, politics and sociey, receiving the Geraldine Pascall Prize for critical writing in 2006. A collection of his journalism,The 10 Rules of Rock and Roll, was published in 2009 to great acclaim. Grant & I, an extraordinry portrait of an intense, creative, sometimes fraught friendship that represented a genuine meeting of artistic minds will be published later this year by Omnibus Press. It is Forster’s third book.
KAREN GABAY Karen Gabay has worked on landmark TV & network radio shows including Prince: Purple Reign, Queens of Disco & Reggae Britannia & The Nation’s Favourite Beatles Song, Karen co-presents an established weekly radio show -The People for BBC Radio Manchester, & is a recognised tastemaker for independent and major labels. She interviews a diverse range of women from unsigned artists through to A list entertainers & these include Lauryn Hill, Tori Amos & Mary Wilson.
Karen is also an award winning independent filmmaker documenting the previously untold stories of Manchester’s communities.
PAUL HANLEY Paul Hanley was the drummer in Manchester legends The Fall from 1980-85 and now plays with Brix & The Extricated. He’s currently completing his English degree with the Open University and occasionally writes for Louder Than War. He’s married with three children and once got 21 on Ken Bruce’s ‘Popmaster’. Paul’s book ‘Leave The Capital’ tells the story of Manchester music through the prism of the two studio’s key recordings. Of course that story inevitably takes in The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall and The Stone Roses. But it’s equally the story of ‘Bus Stop’ and ‘East West’ and ‘I’m Not in Love’. It’s the story of the Manchester attitude of L.S. Lowry, by way of Brian and Michael, and how that attitude rubbed off on The Clash and Neil Sedaka. Above all, it’s the story of music that couldn’t have been made anywhere else but Manchester.
MILES HUNT Miles Hunt In his first book, ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 86 - 89’, Miles Hunt gave an insight into The Wonder Stuff’s fast moving and chaotic early years. The narrative drawn from Hunt’s own personal diaries, meticulously kept as the band began it’s rise to fame. Now in these two follow up books, ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 90 - 91’ and
‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 92 - 94’, Hunt picks up right where he left off. Having lost an original member, Rob ‘The Bass Thing’ Jones, at the end of 1989 Hunt recalls the subsequent months pondering how the band might recover from such a blow. Once having done so Hunt’s diaries share with us the highs and lows that followed during the next turbulent four years; of marriage, of death, of a Number One hit single and eventually of the band’s break up. Hunt says of his trio of books “If my diaries of 1986 through to 1989 represent The Wonder Stuff’s ascent, then the diaries of 1990 to 1994 very much represent the band’s descent.” Brutally honest about all that was happening in his world at the time both Miles Hunt’s ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 90 - 91’ and ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 92 - 94’ are packed full of previously unseen images and ephemera, a must for any fan of the band or indeed anyone with an interest in the pre-Brit Pop era of the UK music scene.
NICK HUSSEY Nick Hussey stared his career at the infamous “Kitchen” in the Manchester suburb of Hulme. The Kitchen was originally a recording studio until later becoming an underground house venue. Nick quite quickly had success as a producer with tracks like “take me away” by Sweet Mercy,”Different Story” by Bowa and “Nothing lasts forever” by Ultracynic along with numerous other tracks.
Nick has also enjoyed quite an illustrious career as a DJ playing all around the world from Ibiza to Miami and everywhere inbetween. Now signed to Defected Records and Kaluki Music Nick spends most of his time in his Mediacity studio writing and producing for many current artists.
STEVE IGNORANT Steve Ignorant is a singer/songwriter and artist. He co-founded the anarcho-punk band Crass with Penny Rimbaud in 1977. After Crass stopped performing in 1984, he worked with other groups including Conflict, Schwartzeneggar, Stratford Mercenaries, Current 93, and US punk band Thought Crime, as well as occasional solo performances. Steve’s autobiography ‘The Rest Is Propaganda’ was first published in 2010. The revised version is now available from Steve’s own publishing company Dimlo Productions. In August 2017, Steve will release his next book ‘References’ a 160 page collection of Steve’s lyrics, illustrations and photographs presented through a flowing text of conversation with Professor Matthew Worley. Steve is also a wood sculptor, a traditional Punch and Judy performer and after being a volunteer for 5 years on the Sea Palling Independent Lifeboat, he now focuses on the fundraising side of it. In addition to all this, Steve continues to write and perform with his band ‘Slice of Life’, perfectly and acoustically capturing ruminations from the bar stool.
JOHN INGHAM John Ingham When punk first broke in the UK in 1976, music journalist John Ingham was on hand to document the very heart of the scene. Struck by the music, fashion and sheer iconoclasm of a little-known outfit called the Sex Pistols, Ingham conducted the first interview with the band, partied with its members and even bailed Sid Vicious out of jail; he also witnessed and documented the group’s evolution at legendary gigs shared with other pioneering punk bands in their earliest days, including the Damned, the Clash, Subway Sect and more. The result is Spirit of 76: London Punk Eyewitness, a revelatory collection of photography and flyon-the-wall reportage showcasing the punk movement from its most raucous, bewildering beginnings. Containing the only color photos from British punk’s first wave alongside Ingham’s inimitable prose, this volume constitutes a rare from-the-trenches report on the UK punk explosion from one of its original participants. Here is the story of a year made up as it happened, lived with excitement and the belief that you could make the future whatever you wanted it to be. John Ingham is one of the pioneers who championed Punk and helped change music forever. Writing under the nom-de-typewriter “Jonh Ingham” for the weekly music paper Sounds, he saw and famously conducted the first-ever interview with the Sex Pistols in April 1976. Convinced he had witnessed the future of music he followed them throughout the year, seeing at close range their evolution at historic gigs, including the first time they played “Anarchy In The UK,” and even bailed Sid Vicious out
of jail. He also saw and wrote the first reviews of the Damned, the Buzzcocks, the Clash and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Noticing that hardly anyone was photographing these new groups, he picked up a camera and started documenting what he saw, shooting some of the only color images of these bands at the beginning of their careers.
MARTIN JAMES Martin James is a former music journalist who spent the 90’s writing for Melody Maker, Vox, Muzik, Mixmag, The Guardian, The Independent and anyone else that would have him. He was also section editor for a number of these titles, features editor at Vox (1998) and editor of independently published magazine Flipside UK (1999-2000) Martin is the author of several critically acclaimed, Internationally published and occasionally bestselling books about music. His book State of Bass: Jungle – the story so far (1997) was hailed by Select magazine as one of the twenty mustread music books from the twentieth century. French Connections: from discotheque to discovery (2003), an investigation into the long and rich history of electronic music in France was also awarded high acclaim with St Etienne’s Bob Stanley declaring it to be ‘endlessly informative and thoroughly enjoyable.’ (Mojo). Martin’s other books include biographies of Dave Grohl, Moby and the Prodigy. At the inaugural Louder than Words Martin took part in a panel about the future of music journalism during which he announced that publishing a book was easy, any one can do it. Martin has spent the last 12 months trying to self-
publish and it’s been hell. Martin is also Professor of Music Industries and course leader BA (hons) Popular Music Journalism at Southampton Solent University… in other words, he should know better!
GRAHAM JONES As one of the founders of Proper Music Distribution he should be in the Guinness book of records for visiting more record shops than any other person. Following hundreds of record shop closures he toured the UK to interview 50 record shops and document their tales for a book ‘Last Shop Standing The true story of his time spent working in and around the world of independent record retailing is every bit as colourful, funny, strange, and occasionally sad as any fictional yarn A documentary film based on his book featured Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, Richard Hawley and lots of record shops Over the years, he has collected a vast number of funny stories and anecdotes. He related the best of them in his laugh out loud second book ‘Strange Requests and Comic Tales from Record Shops’. His talks from the crazy world of record retailing are guaranteed in have any music fan in hysterics
JORDAN Jordan, together with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, created and established the Sex and Seditionaries-era platforms from which Punk was launched. She went
on to contribute to the rise of the Sex Pistols, star in Derek Jarman’s film ‘Jubilee’ and manage and sing with Adam and the Ants. A selfdescribed living work of art, Jordan remains a central icon of and for the outlier, ensuring her style, presence and personal expression remain both relevant and as gritty as those early photographs portrayed her to be. A real treat in store for sure - c’mon gazzump the Google and hear it straight from a cultural icon who was actually there...
DAVID KEENAN David Keenan (born April 1971) is a Scottish author, critic and musician. He is the author of England’s Hidden Reverse, a biography of Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound, a regular contributor to The Wire since 1995. His debut novel This Is Memorial Device was published by Faber in 2017 to great critical acclaim. ‘Beautifully believable and appallingly sad ... One of the most acute, affecting and aphoristic novels of recent years ... A hallucinatory and haunting vision’ - The Guardian.
RACHEL MCHAFFIE Rachel McHaffie has worked as a photojournalist since 1994, and is one of the very few photographers whose career has focused on the documentation of the dance music revolution. Her career began at the now infamous Hacienda nightclub in Manchester where she was the staff photographer in the 1990s. This early experience informed the basis of
Rachel’s visual interest in the social phenomenon of club culture - as important a cultural movement as the beatniks, hippies or punks. Rachel has gone on to work for many music magazines including DJ, Mixmag, Seven and the Ministry of Sound capturing the global club landscape from Las Vegas to Iceland.
DARREN MICHAEL Great to welcome Darren Michael to the Louder team this year. Darren will be our chief film-maker for the weekend #watchthisspace! Darren Michael started his career as a bass player and songwriter before moving into video and film. Clients have included the BBC, Virgin Media, Arts Council England, ICA London and Sky TV amongst many others. Visual arts and music remain his passion and, like us, he’s really excited at being involved with the Louder Than Words Festival!
PAUL MORLEY Paul Morley grew up in Stockport, Cheshire, and has worked as a music journalist, pop svengali and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books on music and has written for publications including the New Statesman, the Sunday Telegraph, NME, the Observer and the Guardian.
SIMON A MORRISON Over the last two decades, Simon A. Morrison has written for everyone from The Guardian to Loaded, with
his collected columns for DJmag – ‘Dispatches From The Wrong Side’ – published as Discombobulated by Headpress. Reporting on the clubscene from Moscow to Marrakech; Beijing to Brazil, Simon also lived in Ibiza for two summers, editing Ministry of Sound’s Ibiza magazine and presenting TV and radio from the island. Moving into academe, Simon is currently finishing up a PhD, based at the University of Leeds, looking at the representation of club culture in literature. He has presented that research at conferences from Porto to Kassel to Amsterdam, and written extensively for academic journals, and book titles for Bloomsbury and Reaktion, including the upcoming title Dancefloors: Revolutions of Club Culture. Currently a Senior Lecturer at Chester University, Simon heads up the university’s Music Journalism degree. A screenplay, based on a story he penned for The Guardian, is currently with a production company with a view to becoming a TV drama. Part of the core Louder Than Words team, Simon will chair the club culture panel at Louder Than Words for a fifth time, as well as leading and coordinating publicity for Louder Than Words via his company, Pad Communications (padcom.co.uk).
DAVID NOLAN David Nolan joins the #Louder2017 roster! Watch this space for event details - The Spirit of ‘76? You’ll swear you were there! David Nolan is an award-winning journalist and television producer.
He’s written music biographies on Tony Wilson, Bernard Sumner and The 1975 and he’s also the author of I Swear I Was There: The Gig That Changed The World. David has also produced and directed tv documentaries on the Sex Pistols, The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen.
LUCY O’BRIEN Lucy O’Brien is the author of She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music (now in its 3rd edition), Madonna: Like An Icon (translated into 13 languages), and in-depth biographies of Dusty Springfield and Annie Lennox. She has contributed to Q, Mojo, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Quietus, and coproduced Righteous Babes, the Channel 4 film about rock and new feminism. Currently Course Leader for BA Music Journalism and BA Music Marketing & Promotion at UCA Epsom, her specialist research areas are music subcultures, feminism and popular culture. And back in 1979/80 she played in all-girl punk band The Catholic Girls.
MICK O’SHEA Another great addition to our Festival line-up! Mick O’Shea joins us for our punk themed in conversation - watch this space for further info and tickets! Mick O’Shea, 54, was born and raised in Accrington, Lancashire. He spent ten years working within the finance industry before finally making the switch from numbers to letters on a full-time basis in 2008.
He now lives in Surrey with his partner Tasha. Having started out penning articles for magazines such as Amped, Wired and Record Collector, his first manuscript, Only Anarchists Are Pretty, was published in October 2004. Though predominantly known for music bios, he’s also penned several novels. He has two new titles set for publication this year: Public Image Limited A Road Still Rising, and No Feelings, No Future, No Fun: The Sex Pistols’ ’78 U$ Tour. ‘Anarchy In The UK’ is due to be published by Famous Seamus in February 2018 and will be his 21st book.
HORACE PANTER Born in Croydon in 1953 Sir Horace Gentleman Panter met Jerry Dammers while doing an art degree at Coventry University. They, together with Lynval Golding, were the founding members of the iconic British ska band, The Specials, setting out to change the world by making people ‘dance as well as think’. As bass player, Horace continues to tour with The Specials, including this year in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. Although better known as ‘that guy in The Specials who plays bass’, Horace is also a professional artist and since 2008, has exhibited throughout the UK and in Singapore, New York and Los Angeles. Pop Culture informs both his audio and his visual aesthetic, hence his giant ‘cassette’ paintings, each meticulously researched to give and portray accurate information on its place in musical and cultural history. His ‘Americana’ series: paintings of
street signs and diners, relate back to his adolescent years when he was heavily influenced by American cultural exports in terms of art, music and literature. What is left out of the painting is as considered as what is included, making them highly stylized motifs of the American cityscape. Horace has also worked on a number of professional collaborations with brands, including Fred Perry, Dr Martens, Club Wembley, Sheaffer Inc., Teenage Cancer Trust, Amy Winehouse Foundation, Strummerville, Blues Magazine UK, MUSACK, Stone Foundation and GPO Retro.
TRAFFORD PARSONS Trafford AKA (lovething ) Parsons: Witness and conspirator in the British house scene that was vilified by Thatcher’s Britain and called Rave. Trafford worked at the Hacienda, Manchester both as a promoter of fashion shows and DJ. He has worked with Manumission in Manchester and Ibiza . Trafford has held DJ Residencies at Manto /Paradise Factory, Funkademia and Carwash UFO at the Man Alive Club, Manchester. Trafford works in TV, Film, Fashion and Art in combinations of Artist, DJ, Club prompter, Painter, Printer & Dancer crossing boundaries of Post punk, post modern, flaneur and more...
RUBY-ANN PATTERSON Ruby-Ann Patterson is a 24 year old, barrier breaking Singer, Writer and Creative Activist. Driven by an innate urge to give a voice to those unheard,
Ruby-Ann’s voice is indescribable; powerfully soft, delicate, instinctively rhythmic and lyrically charged. Her songs project timelessness; fusing both, traditional and imminent styles effortlessly. Whether it is painted, written, sung or spoken, it is all encompassing of her spirit. Her honest and altruistic nature is paired with an undeniable spiritual presence belying her youth. Amongst other notable achievements, including supporting Jazz and Soul favourites Gregory Porter and Charles Bradley, Patterson is the founder of activist support group Mancnubian. Their work involves curating workshops, running an online community and zine dedicated to celebrating the everyday lives of BAME self identifying women in Manchester. Ruby-Ann’s testimonies come in the whispers that seems to float somewhere in the surrounds of her being, coming into light through the voices of the lives she has impacted upon.
DANIEL RACHEL Daniel Rachel is a musician turned award winning author. He was the lead-singer in Rachels Basement and released two solo albums A Simple Twist of Folk and A Taste of Money. Daniel is the author of Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters (a Guardian and NME Book of the Year) and Walls Come Tumbling Down: the music and politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge (Penderyn Music Book of the Year) He is a regular guest contributor on BBC Radio 5.
DAVE RANDALL Musicians have often wanted to change the world. From underground innovators to pop icons many have believed in the political power of music. Rulers recognise it too. Music has been used to challenge the political and social order – and to prop up the status quo. Sound System is the story of one musician’s journey to discover what makes music so powerful. Dave Randall uses his insider’s knowledge of the industry to shed light on the secrets of celebrity, commodification and culture. It is a book of raves, riots and revolution and poses the question: how can we make music serve the interests of the many, rather than the few. Dave Randall is a musician and activist. He has toured the world playing guitar with Faithless, Sinead O’Connor, Emiliana Torrini and many others.
RAT SCABIES After relentlessly nagging his parents for a drum set, Rat Scabies began playing music at the tender age of eight years old; and once he’d picked up the sticks, he never wanted to do anything else. After an initial checkered musical education, his first pro gig was in 1975 as a “pit player” at the Thameside Theatre in Grays Essex for the Yorkshire Theatre Company’s production of “Puss In Boots”. As unemployment beckoned, he answered an advertisement in the Melody Maker for a “Wild Young Drummer Wanted”. He was granted an audition at a
sleazy rehearsal room in Paddington where he met guitarist Brian James, and it was then that punk icons and troublemakers The Damned were born. During the following forty years Rat has played countless live shows and recorded numerous studio albums. His path has been crossed by so many of the great and the good that it would be impossible to list them all here, but the varied names cover one of the broadest musical horizons imaginable ranging from artists as diverse and varied (and in no particular order) as Robert Fripp, Lemmy, and Donovan, to Joe Strummer, Jimmy Page and The Eagles Of Death Metal. Recently Rat has been spending his time making guitars from old cigar boxes and searching for the Holy Grail, whilst still having time between the occasional acting role to perform live in “If You Kiss Me Kiss Me” at The Young Vic Theater starring Jane Horrocks. Rat then spent time in Joshua Tree recording a new Mutants album for Universal Music’s “Killer Tracks” Division.
YVONNE SHELTON For Yvonne Shelton there have been many singles, albums, and tours, to which she has contributed in various capacities. This multi-talented artist and entrepreneur runs and directs choirs, groups, and has been involved in BBC productions for Music Live 1999 in Glasgow co-ordinating artists such as Chaka Khan, James Taylor quartet, and Ce Ce Winans Music Live (1996), Deniece William’s Show BBC Radio 2.
She‘s also done a stint as singer in American musical “I have a dream”, and local plays “Chaos By Design” and “The Windrush Series” for BBC Radio 4, the World Service and the Morning Service for the gospel. Yvonne Shelton is a founder member, Lead Singer and Director of Urban Voice along with Tyndale Thomas and Kadria Thomas. she has also been involved as an artist in community projects with renowned jazz club Band On The Wall, the BBC Philharmonic and Rawchestra projects, HALLE (operatic concerts society) in both of their educational outreach projects for marginalised and isolated inner city kids in Manchester; including The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Educational Outreach project ‘The Sea People’ (Merseyside) each of which has had great success. She was also a director along with Owen Thomas for the Longsight Youth Arts Project. As A Lead and Backing Vocalist: Yvonne has sang with the likes of Oleta Adams (Rhythm of Life remix), Sandra Crouch, The Beautiful South (tour, singles and album), Simply Red (tour), Gabriel (Wicked Women TV performance in Hyde Park), Cleopatra (singles and album), Loveland (singles and album), Living Joy, Joe Robert’s, Melanie William’s, Distant Cousins, Inner City, TIEMPO, George Michael (TV performances), Evolution (tours and chart singles, supporting M People), Secret Society with Lemn Sissay Take That and Heather Small. Praised Performances in front of Oprah Winfrey Show, delivering private performances for Richard Branson, Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou. Yvonne is also a featured vocalist in Soulful Voices at Liverpool’s Alma de Cuba, and has
taken one her choirs to perform on BBC TV Sports Personality of the Year 2008. Other interesting engagements and performances include the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the Olympic Handover for London’s successful 2012 bid. She has toured all over the world as a singer, including most countries in Europe, North and South America, Canada, Africa, Asia (including China, India, Thailand and Dubai), Australia and New Zealand . She has performed with choirs such as Urban Voice, Merrybell gospel choir, London Community Gospel Choir, the Urban Kane Chorale. Yvonne has also performed with the likes of Foreigner (I Wanna Know What Love Is), Patti Labelle, Faith Evans, Puff Daddy (MTV awards new gospel single Best Friend), The Spice Girls (1999 Xmas tour), Various TV programmes. She has worked extensively in the music industry for over 20 years and has been in love with music all her life. Together with local artists she has been involved in TV and Radio programmes promoting the gospel and inspirational music all over the country in groups like the Challengers the Merrybells Urban Voice Last couple of Years she has been involved as a lead vocalist for Hacienda Classical opening up on the main Pyramid Stage Glastonbury, Bridgewater Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Kew Gardens, and various Arenas across the country. Yvonne joins the Louder 2017 roster as a pannelist with our Festival partners Manchester Digital Music Archive.
HENRIETTA SMITH-ROLLA AFRODEUTSCHE born Henrietta Smith-Rolla is a British born Ghanaian/Russian/German composer, producer, singer and DJ based in Manchester. Her production crosses a wide range of styles, classical solo piano, techno, house and electro. AFRODEUTSCHE recently composed a section of the film Baraka and performed live at the RNCM as part of Video Jam. Writing and producing music for television advertising, film and documentaries. Henrietta has composed and produced documentary music for the news channel Aljazeera, composed and produced original music for short films and theatre. Henrietta has performed in Sisters of Transistors a 5-piece Synth and Electronic Organ band, The Part time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club an Eclectica big band curated by Paddy Steer (Homelife) & Graham Massey (808 State/Massonix) originally formed as a tribute to the late great Sun Ra. Played out as duo CLAPTRAP, at queer parties Kiss Me Again and Love Muscle. AFRODEUTSCHE album on its way very soon.
CHARDINE TAYLOR-STONE Chardine Taylor-Stone is an awardwinning cultural producer and feminist activist. Her work is inspired by her experiences as a Black British working class woman having found
her voice through alternative subcultures like Punk and Rockabilly. She is the founder of Black Girls Picnic a global movement in collective self care for Black women and girls, Stop Rainbow Racism and bangs the drums in Black feminist punk band Big Joanie.
TIME TRAVELLING SUFFRAGETTES Armed with banners, a twinkle in their eye and a spanner or two for throwing into the works, Kitty and Lilibet have travelled to the present day to raise their voices in rousing song. Inspired by the enduring influence of Music Hall and its power to subvert whilst being thoroughly entertaining, they cast a queerly suffragette eye upon songs such as The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery, I’m Shy Mary Ellen and Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy – and many more. The duo combines the musical talents of multi-instrumentalist Éilish McCracken (Rose McDowall, Sgt Buzfuz, Slate Islands, Ida Barr) and cabaret performer, novelist & lyricist Rosie Garland (The March Violets, Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen).
JEFF THOMPSON Jeff is co-founder of Un-Convention, and a Director of Manchester’s Bare Noise Records. Established in 2008, Un-Convention is a UK based global music network and development agency. The events and projects bring together artists and practitioners to share knowledge and expertise. Through this Jeff has helped to develop a number of new and innovative approaches
to building sustainable careers and alternative models for the music industries. His current work includes a long term music project working with young people in Manchester, the development of a number of music co-operatives in Africa, and a revolutionary new UK based touring model called Off Axis. He is fortunate enough to spend much of his time working with musicians, filmmakers, designers, illustrators, writers, directors, actors, dancers, animators and numerous other talented and innovative people
KIERON TYLER Kieron Tyler contributes to Britain’s MOJO magazine. His writing has also appeared in Billboard (America), The Guardian, The Independent, Les Inrockuptibles (France), Music Week, Q, Rumba (Finland) and Ugly Things (America). He lives in North London.
THE UNSUNG You’ve heard of Kurt Cobain. You’ve heard of Jim Morrison. But have you heard of Scott Johnson, or Lina Prokofiev? The Unsung is a funeral party for the forgotten fallen heroes of music – not the famous dead rock stars, but the people whose story has never been told. A journey in poetry and sound from Sheffield poet Genevieve Carver and her live band Sarah Sharp, Tim Knowles and Brian Bestall, The Unsung takes you on a whirlwind tour around the world exploring how music has shattered the lives of those who’ve loved it most.
Genevieve Carver is a Sheffieldbased poet interested in finding the humanity amidst the chaos. She began to enchant audiences in 2011 with her trademark mix of humour and melancholy, and now performs regularly at prestigious events across the country, having supported artists such as Buddy Wakefield and Hollie McNish. Her written work has appeared in several national anthologies and magazines including Iota, Envoi and The North. She has been awarded various literary prizes, including highly commended in the Troubadour Prize and reaching the long-list of the National Poetry Competition. In 2016 she was a semifinalist in the Hammer & Tongue UK National Poetry Slam.
MELANIE WILLIAMS Born Melanie Joy Williams In South London a Scorpion, I believe. And a Dragon too, a wood Dragon to be precise. And Melanie Williams likes to be precise. It’s intense to be on the receiving end of her passion & fire but she listens if you hold your ground. This is her short story so far in the world of music and muse a blink in the eye of creation… Melanie started singing and writing for a band in Manchester, Adventure, invited to join by fellow musician Eric Gooden. Eric and Melanie went on to sign their first recording contract with Geffen Records just a few years later. This took them to Chicago to be there at the birth of House Music. The Duo went on to make their first album with Virgin Records, signed by A&R man Mick Clark,aka “The Soul Guru” & the Infamous Jeremy Lascelles
under the name Temper Temper, causing a soulful stir amongst the critics and gaining critical acclaim. Their journey continued with Mick Clark to Sony for their next album, recorded in LA,this time under Melanie’s name. During the recording of the album Human Cradle, Melanie had also collaborated and sung on a track with Manchester band Sub Sub. The single release of Aint No Love, Aint No Use, very swiftly rose to number 3 in the UK charts and became an undisputed club anthem. With the release of her solo album, and a version of You Are Everything the classic Motown duet. sung with partner and solo artist Joe Roberts, they reached top 20 in the UK, while her Everyday Thang, Frankie Knuckles’ remix hit number 1 in the billboard breakout charts in the US. Melanie’s reputation as a unique and genuine voice in soul music, as well as a writer and performer grew again. She started the tour of the album at Ronnie Scotts in London, her live band all fellow Manchester musicians. Her continued collaborations with artists worldwide & consistantly with now husband Joe Roberts has birthed 2 further albums with Dark Flower and their current raw neo-soul band Butterfly Jam. Melanie is currently championing charity work with causes she feels aligned with such as Hatchfest, Barnabus, Escape, acting, writing, singing and performing, travelling from England, Ibiza to Australia working with her old friends at Bush Records again and collaborating with various producers and Artists. Melanie recently won the Manchester
District Music Archive #Rebel Women In Music writers award. Through lucrative times & lean. through motherhood, marriage, bankruptcy & changes in the Music Industry mechanism she has stayed true to her creative nature primarily thriving on writing about the nitty gritty aspects of life. The light & the dark of sticking it out in relationships. ”Relationships are like looking at my reflection in a lake ,when I see something I don’t like I wanna smash the reflection but it keeps reforming as my face”.
JAH WOBBLE Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet, composer and author. Probably best known as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL), Wobble has since successfully pursued a solo career and enjoyed acclaimed success with Jah Wobble and the Modern Jazz Ensemble as well as collaborations with Marconi Union and Bill Sharpe (founding member of Shakatak). Jah authored his autobiography ‘Memoirs of a Geezer’ and in 2013 released ‘Odds, Sods and Epilogues’, a collection of his poetry. His work with Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart continues to command sell out crowds and his 6CD box set ‘Re-Dux’ celebrates his (almost) 40 year career in music. A respected raconteur, Jah is an entertaining and informed speaker on topics as varied as the Nature of Mind, Ancient Greece, Art, Matter Transference and the idignity of being a member of the Cockney Diaspora.
MATTHEW WORLEY Matthew Worley is professor of modern history at the University of Reading. He is the author of several articles on punk and the book No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 18976-084 (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
PETE WYLIE Part time rock star - full time legend. Pete Wylie is a musician/composer best known as the leader of the band The Mighty Wah! His string of massive hits include The Story Of The Blues, Come Back, Sinful, 7 Minutes to Midnight and the LFC anthem Heart As Big As Liverpool, and has written scores for Hurricane Films, Alex Cox and Radio 4. Staggeringly articulate, funny and wise, his TV and radio appearances include The Culture Show, BBC 4’s Pop On Trial, and any number of BBC Radio documentaries.
FESTIVAL AT A GLANCE FRIDAY 10 NOV 6.30pm FESTIVAL OPENS: DIRECTOR’S SUITE 7.00pm JAH WOBBLE IN CONVERSATION 9.00pm PAUL ‘SMILER’ ANDERSON IN CONVERSATION SATURDAY 11 NOV 10.00am FROM CAMPUS TO MOSH PIT: Bank notes for musical notes - a writing panel discussion 10.15am GOOD MUSIC: Making the world a better place. Unconvention panel discussion 12.00pm BLACK FEMALE VOICES, SHAPING THE SOUND OF MANCHESTER MUSIC: A panel discussion in partnership with Manchester Digital Music Archive 12.15pm VINYL REVIVAL AND THE SHOPS THAT MADE IT HAPPEN 12.15pm EYE WITNESS PUNK POWER: The spirit of ‘76 and beyond 2.00pm SMASHING IT UP: A decade of chaos with The Damned 2.15pm ANY MAJOR DUDES WILL TELL YOU: The genius of Steely Dan 2.15pm HIGHER EDUCATION SURGERIES 4.00pm PAUL MORLEY in conversation 4.15pm STEVE IGNORANT in conversation 4.15pm OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! Women and subculture panel discussion 6.00pm HORACE PANTER in conversation 6.15pm TIME-TRAVELLING SUFFRAGETTES 6.15pm JORDAN IN CONVERSATION 8.00pm CELESTE BELL in conversation: The creative life of Poly Styrene 8.00pm PETE WYLIE in conversation - part-time rock star, full-time legend 8.15pm DISCOTEXT: The rave scene in literature and the print & broadcast media SUNDAY 12 NOV 10.00am THE VINYL COUNTDOWN: Travis Elborough 10.15am POP POLITICS AND PROTEST: Panel discussion 11am LOUDER THAN WORDSMITH: Pop and Politics Poetry Slam 12.00pm MICHAEL BRADLEY in conversation 12.15pm PAUL HANLEY in conversation 2.00pm THE UNSUNG 2.00pm DAVID KEENAN in conversation 2.00pm MILES HUNT in conversation 4.00pm FLOWER KING OF THE FLIES: Why the UFO Club was closed and Hoppy was jailed 4.15pm A SELF PUBLISHING NIGHTMARE: How not to publish a book about music 4.30pm ROBERT FORSTER in conversation
Whether you are a publisher, label, musician, producer, festival or music manager the Shoosmiths Creative Industries team is tuned in to you. Being immersed in the creative industries sector enables us to have a unique understanding of the legal issues you face in the music and/or publishing industry and to provide advice which is in tune with your requirements. Whether you need help in protecting or enforcing your rights or assistance with a contract you can be sure that our team of expert lawyers will hit the right note. Shoosmiths are proud to sponsor Louder Than Words festival for a fourth year and look forward to meeting delegates during the course of the weekend. For more information please contact: Laura Harper | Partner | 03700 865881 | laura.harper@shoosmiths.co.uk Carol Isherwood | Associate | 03700 865882 | carol.isherwood@shoosmiths.co.uk
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER
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FESTIVAL OPENS: 6.30-7.00pm DIRECTOR’S SUITE welcome from the Louder Team, Omnibus Press, All Weekend Pass, Friday Pass and Friday ticket holders are invited to join us for the formal opening of Louder Than Words Festival 2017 DIRECTOR’S SUITE
7.00-8.15pm
JAH WOBBLE in conversation JAH WOBBLE is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet, composer and author. Probably best known as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL), Wobble has since successfully pursued a solo career and enjoyed acclaimed success with Jah Wobble and the Modern Jazz Ensemble as well as collaborations with Marconi Union and Bill Sharpe (founding member of Shakatak). In this intimate in conversation event, Jah will explore a whole host of topics in what promises to be a classic evening of insightful, entertaining conversation. Come prepared to hear topics that span music and key figures in populare culture, Ancient Greece, through to Post Modernism by way of matter transference and the indignity of being a member of the Cockney Diaspora! A true treat in store for sure!
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
9.00-10.15pm
PAUL ‘SMILER’ ANDERSON in conversation PAUL ‘SMILER’ ANDERSON has been in love with Mod all his life, it seems. Throughout the 80’s to the present day he has been involved in organising many events, publishing fanzines and running club nights. As a major record collector he has DJ’d at Mod events both here and in Europe for over 25 years. Co- author of ‘Circles – the strange story of The Fleur De Lys.’, he has also written music articles for magazines including ‘Shindig!. These days he writes sleeve-notes for
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
the ‘History of R&B’ label ‘Soho Jazz’ LP’s plus ‘Rare Mod’ series of compilations and EP’s on Acid Jazz records. In 2011, teaming up with with Damian once more, he got to realise his dream of presenting the biggest ever exhibition of 60’s Mod related items. ‘Reading Steady Go!’ proved to be Reading museum’s most successful exhibition to date. His last book ‘Mods – The New Religion’ became a best seller, and his forthcoming books for Omnibus include ‘Mod Art’ and a book on Skinheads (1967-73). Join us in conversation with Paul as he takes us through a journey of art, fashion, music and culture - a feast of an insight with rarities to treat our eyes and ears in equal measure.
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
10.30pm
THE REFUGE, MOD REVIVAL DJ PARTY All Festival ticket holders (includes all Passes and tickets to individual events from across the weekend) are invited to join us in the main hotel bar The Refuge where Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson will take to the decks for a Mod and Soul Revival hour. We can’t wait!
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER DIRECTOR’S SUITE
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10.00-11.15am
FROM CAMPUS TO MOSH PIT: BANK NOTES TO MUSICAL NOTES: Making money from Music Writing Apparently it’s easier to dance about music than write about it. And yet still we do it, and still long to do it… not only listen to music, but to sculpt out an opinion from words, and then share that opinion. And in today’s digital age that means instantly, across blogs and social media. But there is an elephant in this room, and there is no avoiding him… even if he is sat in the corner with a lampshade on his head: Monetisation. It has never been easier to get yourself published; it has never been harder to get paid for it. Perhaps one route might be to take one of the growing number of music journalism degree courses? If that’s in your thoughts, the panel welcomes back Professor Martin James, music writer and now Professor of Cultural Industries at Southampton Solent University. With Martin is Lucy O’Brien, author of She Bop and Course Leader for Music Journalism and Music Marketing & Promotion at UCA Epsom and Matt Parker, course leader for Music Journalism at BIMM Manchester. Also on the panel (and in the audience) will be the invaluable input of students currently paying undeniably extravagant fees to study this subject and work towards their dreams. Perhaps adding another perspective is music writer David Nolan, author of biographies on subjects as varied as Tony Wilson and The 1975. The panel is chaired by Louder’s Simon A. Morrison, who has made his living from music for over 20 years… without ever actually making any. So let’s remove the lampshade from our elephant in the room, and see if we can finally figure out how to make real money, from writing about music.
CLOCK TOWER 4
10.00-11.30am
GOOD MUSIC: Making the world a better place. Unconvention panel discussion “Can a mere song change a people’s minds? I doubt that it is so. But a song can infiltrate your heart and the heart may change your mind.” Elvis Costello Music can bring people together, break barriers and build aspirations. It can give a sense of identity and place, and act as a powerful tool to engage with those
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
disenfranchised by the world around them. Across the globe, and in a range of contexts, music is used to improve lives, and sometimes, even to save them. This panel will explore how music inspires, motivates and drives social change, champions causes and challenges injustice.
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
12.00-1.15pm
BLACK FEMALE VOICES: Shaping the sound of Manchester Music We are thrilled to be hosting this years MDMArchive guest panel, which focuses on the hidden voice of black female artists in shaping the sound of music in greater Manchester. The panel will discuss the challenges of black women in getting heard, and share the key stores of their influence in the sound and words of music from across the last 3 decades to today. Chairing the panel is TV Producer (BBC/ITV) and Radio Presenter, and Documentarian, KAREN GABAY, who will be joined by writer and performer, MELANIE WILLIAMS (Sub Sub, Butterfly Jam), performer, backing vocalist and collaborator, YVONNE SHELTON (Co founding Urban Voice), HENRIETTA SMITH-ROLLA, DJ, Electronic Producer, and Performer (AfroDeutsche, Sisters of Transistors) and RUBY-ANN PATTERSON, barrier breaking singer, writer and creative activist.
CLOCK TOWER 6
12.15-1.30pm
EYE WITNESS PUNK POWER: The spirit of ‘76 and beyond When punk first broke in the UK in 1976, music journalist John Ingham was on hand to document the very heart of the scene. Struck by the music, fashion and sheer iconoclasm of a little-known outfit called the Sex Pistols, Ingham conducted the first interview with the band, partied with its members and even bailed Sid Vicious out of jail; he also witnessed and documented the group’s evolution at legendary gigs shared with other pioneering punk bands in their earliest days, including the Damned, the Clash, Subway Sect and more. The result is Spirit of 76: London Punk Eyewitness, a revelatory collection of photography and fly-on-the-wall reportage showcasing the punk movement from its most raucous, bewildering beginnings. Containing the only color photos from British
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punk’s first wave alongside Ingham’s inimitable prose, this volume published by Anthology Editions (Anthology.net/books) constitutes a rare from-the-trenches report on the UK punk explosion from one of its original participants. Here is the story of a year made up as it happened, lived with excitement and the belief that you could make the future whatever you wanted it to be. Mick O’Shea’s ‘Anarchy in the UK’ is a partially fictionalised account of The Sex Pistols ill-fated 1978 British tour of the same name. Mick is the perfect person to tell this intriguing story as he was actually there with them! He also has the wit, humour and imagination to visualise and express the aspects of the band’s lifestyles and antics that he was not personally privy to and, as we’re talking about arguably the most controversial and outrageous rock band of all time, there’s a fair bit for him to visualise and express. On June 4, 1976, four young men took the stage of the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester and, in front of a handful of people, played one of the most important live sets of all time. Alongside Woodstock and Live Aid, the Sex Pistols’ performance has been named by critics as one of the most pivotal performances in music history...not necessarily because of the quality of the music - but because of the effect the music had on the audience. The crowd were mesmerized by the power and possibilities of punk - and it inspired them to create their own music that would shape the sound of rock music for decades to come. Members of Joy Division and New Order, the Smiths, the Fall and Buzzcocks were there that night as well as Tony Wilson, a key player in the story of Factory records, the Hacienda, Madchester and beyond. This was truly a gig that changed the world. The truth behind that gig - plus the Pistols’ repeat performance six weeks later and their first ever TV appearance - has been shrouded in mystery for forty years. Until now, everyone’s been happy to print the legend. In this excellent account, David Nolan, for the first time, outlines the truth. Featuring previously unpublished photos, interviews with key players and audience members, David Nolan’s “I Swear I Was There” brings pop culture to life forty years after the Summer of Punk. Join John, Mick and David for conversation, insights, anecdotes and images from those who really can swear they were there...
CLOCK TOWER 4
12.15-1.30pm
VINYL REVIVAL AND THE SHOPS THAT MADE IT HAPPEN Less than a decade ago, the record store was an endangered species, with multiple stores closing across the country on weekly basis. On the brink of total extinction, something amazing happened: record stores started not just staying
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
opening, but thriving, with new shops popping up on high streets across the UK. How did this mainstay of independent thinking make such a monumental comeback in the face of a market crowded with streaming, downloading and ‘free’ pirated music? Writers and culture provocateurs Jennifer Otter Bickerdike (Why Vinyl Matters) and Graham Jones (Last Shop Standing) discuss this amazing turn around in fates, as they examine the importance of record stores and vinyl albums in defining culture and communities.
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
2.00-3.15pm
DECADE OF CHAOS WITH THE DAMNED A very special in conversation with KIERON TYLER and RAT SCABIES that celebrates Kieron’s meticulously researched book and spans The Damned’s individual involvement in the birth of British Punk Rock, their signing to Stiff Records, making friends with Marc Bolan and Motorhead and charge off the rails at great speed. Conflicts, disarray and success on both sides of the pond, we’ll explore and reveal how – and why – the wayward, wild and wilful Damned are the punk band that have survived.
CLOCK TOWER 6
2.15-3.30pm
HIGHER EDUCATION SURGERIES
CLOCK TOWER 4
2.15-3.30pm
ANY MAJOR DUDES WILL TELL YOU: The Genius of Steely Dan Barney Hoskyns, editorial director of Rock’s Backpages and editor of the brandnew Constable anthology Major Dudes: A Steely Dan Companion, discourses with fellow Dan fanatics John Ingham (who reviewed Katy Lied for Sounds) and Daryl Easlea (who revisited Aja for the BBC) about the wit, wisdom and sheer musical brilliance of Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker.
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
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4.00-5.15pm
PAUL MORLEY in conversation Join Paul Morley for a special in conversation that celebrates the life and impact of Tony Wilson, in this the 10th anniversary year since his death. In 2007, a week after his passing, Paul Morley wrote in The Guardian: ‘’In all of the years I’ve been involved in the music business and journalism - and I would not have been as involved without his generous, constant, inspiring and occasionally annoying mentoring - I’ve never come across anyone so energetically brilliant. Without Wilson there may well have been in some form Joy Division, and Factory, and New Order, and the Hacienda, and Happy Mondays. There may well have been Peter Saville’s dream designs, and Martin Hannett’s timeless production, and a Manchester that managed to move on from its sad post-industrial decline. But none of it would have been so far-fetched, so dramatic and so fantastic. It took courage to be Tony Wilson, to then become, in the face of certain derision, Anthony H Wilson. Only he knew how much.’’ Join us as we explore and celebrate the highs, lows, impact and legacy of Anthony H Wilson - a true Festival highlight for sure. Paul Morley grew up in Stockport, Cheshire, and has worked as a music journalist, pop svengali and broadcaster. He is the author of a number of books on music, which will undoubtedly be referred to during this event, and has written for publications including the New Statesman, the Sunday Telegraph, NME, the Observer and the Guardian.
CLOCK TOWER 6 4.15-5.30pm STEVE IGNORANT in conversation Steve Ignorant is a singer/songwriter and artist. He co-founded the anarcho-punk band Crass with Penny Rimbaud in 1977. After Crass stopped performing in 1984, he worked with other groups including Conflict, Schwartzeneggar, Stratford Mercenaries, Current 93, and US punk band Thought Crime, as well as occasional solo performances. Steve’s autobiography ‘The Rest Is Propaganda’ was first published in 2010. The
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
revised version is now available from Steve’s own publishing company Dimlo Productions. In August 2017, Steve will release his next book ‘References’ a 160 page collection of Steve’s lyrics, illustrations and photographs presented through a flowing text of conversation with Professor Matthew Worley who will join Steve in this special event. Matthew is professor of modern history at the University of Reading. He is the author of several articles on punk and the book No Future: Punk, Politics and British Youth Culture, 18976-084 (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Steve is also a wood sculptor, a traditional Punch and Judy performer and after being a volunteer for 5 years on the Sea Palling Independent Lifeboat, he now focuses on the fundraising side of it. In addition to all this, Steve continues to write and perform with his band ‘Slice of Life’, perfectly and acoustically capturing ruminations from the bar stool honed on the late-night walk home.
CLOCK TOWER 4
4.15-5.30pm
OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! Women and subculture panel discussion Female participation in subculture is often ignored or undocumented – yet women innovate and shape the future of music scenes in countless creative ways. Writer/broadcaster and She Bop author LUCY O’BRIEN chairs this panel with award winning cultural producer and feminist activist CHARDINE TAYLOR STONE and film-maker CELESTE BELL. Chardine’s work is inspired by her experiences as a Black British working class woman who found her voice through punk and rockabilly. In May 2017 Chardine won the British LGBT Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ life’. And Celeste, former frontwoman for Madrid band Celeste Dos Santos & The Tabloid Queens, is currently making a film about her mother, punk icon Poly Styrene. After reading a scholarly article that claimed former female punks have no interest in the subculture that spawned them, in August 2017 Lucy put up a Facebook post asking any 1970s female punks to get in touch. Overwhelmed by the response, she is feeding this research into a chapter for a forthcoming book. This panel explores feminism, subculture, and creating a new visual and musical language.
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PROGRAMME:
6.15-7.30pm
JORDAN in conversation Jordan, together with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, created and established the Sex and Seditionaries-era platforms from which Punk was launched. She went on to contribute to the rise of the Sex Pistols, star in Derek Jarman’s film ‘Jubilee’ and manage and sing with Adam and the Ants. A selfdescribed living work of art, Jordan remains a central icon of and for the outlier, ensuring her style, presence and personal expression remain both relevant and as gritty as those early photographs portrayed her to be. A real treat in store for sure - c’mon gazzump the Google and hear it straight from a cultural icon who was actually there...
CLOCK TOWER 6
6.15-7.30pm
TIME-TRAVELLING SUFFRAGETTES Armed with banners, a twinkle in their eye and a spanner or two for throwing into the works, Kitty and Lilibet have travelled to the present day to raise their voices in rousing song. Inspired by the enduring influence of Music Hall and its power to subvert whilst being thoroughly entertaining, they cast a queerly suffragette eye upon songs such as The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery, I’m Shy Mary Ellen and Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy – and many more. The duo combines the musical talents of multi-instrumentalist Éilish McCracken (Rose McDowall, Sgt Buzfuz, Slate Islands, Ida Barr) and cabaret performer, novelist & lyricist Rosie Garland (The March Violets, Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen).
CLOCK TOWER 4
6.00-7.15pm
HORACE PANTER in conversation Born in Croydon in 1953 Sir Horace Gentleman Panter met Jerry Dammers while doing an art degree at Coventry University. They, together with Lynval Golding, were the founding members of the iconic British ska band, The Specials, setting out to change the world by making people ‘dance as well as think’. As bass
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
player, Horace continues to tour with The Specials, including this year in the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA. Although better known as ‘that guy in The Specials who plays bass’, Horace is also a professional artist and since 2008, has exhibited throughout the UK and in Singapore, New York and Los Angeles. We’ll cover music, art, life and more in what promises to be a star feature event of #Louder2017!
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
8.00-9.15pm
I AM A CLICHE: The creative life of Poly Styrene Two special works focusing on late X-Ray Spex star Poly Styrene: a book, Dayglo: The Creative Life Of Poly Styrene (working title, Omnibus) and also a documentary film, titled Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché, are currently in production. In conversation with John Robb, writer, musician and close friend of Poly, are CELESTE BELL, Poly’s daughter, and writer ZOE HOWE, both of whom are collaborating on the projects. Beyond the songs, the look (incorporating the most famous braces in rock) and that warrior-cry voice, Poly Styrene’s fascinating and sometimes frightening story - incorporating struggles with misogyny, racism and mental health issues - has remained largely untold until now. In both book and film, the jigsaw pieces of Poly’s life will be brought together for the first time. Combining original interviews, new research and previously unseen archive materials - and underscored with Poly’s music from throughout her career - these two projects celebrate one of punk’s most uncompromising mavericks.Both the film, directed by Paul Sng (Sleaford Mods: Invisible Britain; Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle), and the book (published by Omnibus Press) will be released in November 2018, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of seminal X-Ray Spex album Germ-Free Adolescents.
CLOCK TOWER 6
8.00-9.15pm
PETE WYLIE in conversation Part time rock star - full time legend. Pete is a musician/composer best known as the leader of the band The Mighty Wah! His string of massive hits include The Story Of The Blues, Come Back, Sinful, 7 Minutes to Midnight and the LFC
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER
11
SAT
PROGRAMME:
anthem Heart As Big As Liverpool, and has written scores for Hurricane Films, Alex Cox and Radio 4. Staggeringly articulate, funny and wise, his TV and radio appearances include The Culture Show, BBC 4’s Pop On Trial, and any number of BBC Radio documentaries. A treat of an in conversation in store for sure!
CLOCK TOWER 4
8.15-9.30pm
DISCOTEXT: The rave scene in literature, cinema and the print and broadcast media 1988’s Second Summer of Love formed the perfect storm of cultural, political and pharmaceutical effects. Imported ‘house’ music fused with a new dance drug – ecstasy – to create a ‘Chemical Generation’ of young people disenfranchised by the hard-edged politics of Thatcherism. Margaret Thatcher infamously claimed that there was ‘no such thing as society’. On fields and in warehouses across the UK, young adults found their society… and they found it on the dancefloor. As the scale of the “rave” scene became clear, this subculture came onto the radar of journalists, filmmakers and authors, all keen to use the scene as source material. In Penguin’s Disco Biscuits collection and novels from Irvine Welsh; in films such as Human Traffic and It’s All Gone Pete Tong; in magazines like DJ and Mixmag; and pirate radio stations such as Kiss and Sunrise… adventures of the night were locked and preserved. This panel will explore how these representations of the club scene were forged. Joining the 2017 club culture panel is David Dunne, for many years a clubscene radio presenter and DJ. Representing cinema is soundtrack composer Nick Hussey, while on the print side is DJ and music reviewer Greg Fenton and photographer Rachel McHaffie, with Trafford Parsons explaining the link between club culture and the art world. As ever, the panel is convened and chaired by Louder’s (non DJ) Simon A. Morrison, who produced and presented TV and radio about the club scene. So… how do writers write about a beat; how do directors make cinematic sense of the essentially drug-fuelled and wonky? Join us at this year’s club culture panel and we might just find out. Either that or get on the tables and have a rave…
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER DIRECTOR’S SUITE
12
SUN
PROGRAMME:
10.00-11.15am
THE VINYL COUNTDOWN: Travis Elborough The Vinyl Countdown - The story of the album - a talk with records by author Travis Elborough In 1948 an invention was launched that was to change the world forever – the Long Playing vinyl record. Before then music came on 78s which were restricted to 4 minutes of scratchy sound per side. Artists suddenly had over 40 minutes to play with. The listener was able to kick back with the sleeve, and possibly a large martini in hand, and listen with uninterrupted pleasure. Join Travis Elborough, author of The Long-Player Goodbye, as he explains how artists and record companies responded to vinyl records and charts their life and times, with the aid of a few discs from his own collection.
CLOCK TOWER 6
10.15-11.30pm
POP, POLITICS AND PROTEST: Panel discussion When people demand change: in protest, by rioting or through parliament. When music comes together to challenge racism, gender inequality and social and class divisions. When song mobilises a generation. The UK has a rich history of pop music leading the vanguard against discrimination and oppression - Rock Against Racism / Sexism in the late Seventies, Red Wedge in the mid-Eighties, #GrimeforCorbyn in the modern age - the panel trace a revolutionary history and challenge the audience to debate ‘Music changes the world’. Join panellists Lucy O’Brien, Daniel Rachel, Dave Randall, and Chardine TaylorStone with Roisin Dwyer as Chair.
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
CLOCK TOWER 4
11.00-1.30pm
POETRY SLAM: POP AND POLITICS Louder Than Wordsmith, War of the Roses 2017: Pop & Politics Louder Than Wordsmith is Louder Than Words’ annual poetry slam in collaboration with Wordsmith (http://wordsmithmcr.org/). We work with young people from across Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, bringing them together for a healthy competition based on poetry and passions. Prior to our slam, Wordsmith poet coaches engage with students from schools and 6th form colleges to explore and create unique poetry outputs based on our 2017 theme of ‘Pop & Politics’. The Young Poets come together for a showcase at the Louder Than Words Festival (Sunday 12th November) to perform their poems and entertain our audiences. All students involved are rewarded with prizes, including best pen and best performer. Many thanks go to Chris Jam, Wordsmith Artistic Director and students and staff from Bishop Young Academy Leeds, Abbey Grange Academy Leeds, Burnage Academy Boys, Manchester, Wright Robinson College, Manchester, Loreto College, Manchester, Xaverian College, Manchester
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
12.00-1.15pm
MICHAEL BRADLEY in conversation MICHAEL BRADLEY joined his friends in a band in 1974. They became THE UNDERTONES who had several hit records. After five years as a professional band, they broke up in 1983. Michael realised he didn’t have the head or the heart to be a full time musician so got a job as a bicycle courier in London before returning home to Derry, where he has worked as a BBC radio producer since 1986. His book ‘Teenage Kicks : My Life As An Undertone’ tells the story of his time in the band from the beginnings in the front room of O’Neill’s house in Derry to being late for their last show with Feargal Sharkey. For the last eighteen years Michael has played semi professional bass guitar in The Undertones, who reformed in 1999 without telling their former singer. Join Michael for this special in conversation, gazzump the Google and hear the stories first-hand from those who were actually there! #Louder2017!
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER CLOCK TOWER 6
12
SUN
PROGRAMME:
12.15-1.30pm
PAUL HANLEY in conversation Paul Hanley was the drummer in Manchester legends The Fall from 1980-85 and now plays with Brix & The Extricated. He’s currently completing his English degree with the Open University and occasionally writes for Louder Than War. He’s married with three children and once got 21 on Ken Bruce’s ‘Popmaster’. Paul’s book ‘Leave The Capital’ tells the story of Manchester music through the prism of the two studio’s key recordings. Of course that story inevitably takes in The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall and The Stone Roses. But it’s equally the story of ‘Bus Stop’ and ‘East West’ and ‘I’m Not in Love’. It’s the story of the Manchester attitude of L.S. Lowry, by way of Brian and Michael, and how that attitude rubbed off on The Clash and Neil Sedaka. Above all, it’s the story of music that couldn’t have been made anywhere else but Manchester - a real treat in store for sure!
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
2.00-3.30pm
MILES HUNT in conversation A very special in conversation with Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff - join us to hear the stories and insights first-hand. In his first book, ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 86 - 89’, Miles Hunt gave an insight into The Wonder Stuff’s fast moving and chaotic early years. The narrative drawn from Hunt’s own personal diaries, meticulously kept as the band began it’s rise to fame. Now in these two follow up books, ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 90 - 91’ and ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 92 - 94’, Hunt picks up right where he left off. Having lost an original member, Rob ‘The Bass Thing’ Jones, at the end of 1989 Hunt recalls the subsequent months pondering how the band might recover from such a blow. Once having done so Hunt’s diaries share with us the highs and lows that followed during the next turbulent four years; of marriage, of death, of a Number One hit single and eventually of the band’s break up. Hunt says of his trio of books “If my diaries of 1986 through to 1989 represent
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
The Wonder Stuff’s ascent, then the diaries of 1990 to 1994 very much represent the band’s descent.” Brutally honest about all that was happening in his world at the time both Miles Hunt’s ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 90 - 91’ and ‘The Wonder Stuff Diaries 92 - 94’ are packed full of previously unseen images and ephemera, a must for any fan of the band or indeed anyone with an interest in the pre-Brit Pop era of the UK music scene.
CLOCK TOWER 6
2.00-3.30pm
THE UNSUNG: A journey through lives in music through poetry and sound You’ve heard of Kurt Cobain. You’ve heard of Jim Morrison. But have you heard of Scott Johnson, or Lina Prokofiev? THE UNSUNG is a funeral party for the forgotten fallen heroes of music – not the famous dead rock stars, but the people whose story has never been told. A journey in poetry and sound from Sheffield poet Genevieve Carver and her live band Sarah Sharp, Tim Knowles and Brian Bestall, The Unsung takes you on a whirlwind tour around the world exploring how music has shattered the lives of those who’ve loved it most. Genevieve Carver is a Sheffield-based poet interested in finding the humanity amidst the chaos. She began to enchant audiences in 2011 with her trademark mix of humour and melancholy, and now performs regularly at prestigious events across the country, having supported artists such as Buddy Wakefield and Hollie McNish. Her written work has appeared in several national anthologies and magazines including Iota, Envoi and The North. She has been awarded various literary prizes, including highly commended in the Troubadour Prize and reaching the long-list of the National Poetry Competition. In 2016 she was a semi-finalist in the Hammer & Tongue UK National Poetry Slam.
CLOCK TOWER 4
2.00-3.30pm
DAVID KEENAN in conversation The place is Airdrie. The year is 1983. Memorial Device, the best band that never existed, are about to change everyone’s lives forever. The story of a cast of misfits, drop-outs, small town visionaries and would-be artists and musicians
THE PRINCIPAL HOTEL, MANCHESTER
12
SUN
PROGRAMME:
through a period of time where anything seemed possible. This Is Memorial Device, the debut novel by David Keenan, is a love letter to the small working class towns in western Scotland in the late 1970s and early 80s as they were temporarily transformed by the endless possibilities that came out of the freefall from punk rock. At its core is the story of Memorial Device, a mythic post-punk group that could have gone all the way were it not for the visionary excess and uncompromising bloody-minded belief that served to confirm them as underground legends. Written in a series of hallucinatory first-person eye-witness accounts that capture the prosaic madness of the time and place, heady with the magic of youth recalled, This Is Memorial Device combines the formal experimentation of David Foster Wallace at his peak circa Brief Interviews With Hideous Men with moments of delirious psychedelic modernism, laugh out loud bathos, and tender poignancy A real treat in store for sure - we can’t wait!
CLOCK TOWER 6
4.15-5.30pm
FLOWER KING of FLIES: Why the UFO Club was closed and Hoppy was jailed 50 years ago, in July 1967, the News Of The World ran an expose of London’s UFO Club – the heart of the hippy underground scene. The British establishment was on the warpath against the scene—UFO organiser John “Hoppy” Hopkins had been imprisoned for drug possession earlier that summer. When the traditional Irishman who owned the venue saw the News Of The World story, he sorrowfully told UFO’s co-founder Joe Boyd that UFO was going to have to close. Using clips from Hoppy—Underground Head - the documentary he is making with Carl Stickley – film director Malcolm Boyle outlines the events that led to UFO being closed down. Malcolm shows how Establishment unease at the club’s “all night raves” led to Hoppy’s imprisonment, tabloid attacks, and the club’s demise. He explores why the underground presented such a threat to the establishment. He considers the gulf between hippy Utopianism and the authoritarianism of
* All sessions will be accompanied by the opportunity to purchase relevant books, meet the authors and signings in the Post Room - see inside back cover for details
a ruling class coming to terms with the collapse of the British Empire and the ending of the rule of aristocracy.
CLOCK TOWER 4
4.15-5.30pm
A SELF PUBLISHING NIGHTMARE: How not to publish a book about music At the inaugural Louder than Words Martin James took part in a panel about the future of music journalism during which he announced that publishing a book was easy, any one can do it. Martin has spent the last 12 months trying to self-publish a book about The Prodigy and it’s been hell! In this session he will discuss the trials, tribulations, pitfalls and victories of going down the DIY publishing route. From photographers threatening to sue, to illustrators demanding more money; from former members of the band’s entourage providing unpublishable, defamatory interviews to ‘friends’ of the band withdrawing permission for use of their contributions, the creation of this book is a story in its own right with a narrative that would challenge even the most chilled out author. And that’s even before you consider the closure of the printers he’d booked and the subsequent postBrexit referendum impact of spiralling paper, printing and transport costs. Undeterred Martin is now planning the next book! Even before this one has gone to press! Come and join Martin for some insider insights, advice, admissions and perhaps even encouragement!
DIRECTOR’S SUITE
4.30-6.00pm
ROBERT FORSTER in conversation Grant McLennan didn’t want to be in a band. He couldn’t play an instrument; Charlie chaplin was his hero du jour. And yet, when Robert Fortser wrote Hemingway, Genet, Chandler & Joyce into his lyrics, McLennan couldn’t resist a second invitation to become 80s sensation The Go-Betwens. The friends would collaborate for three decades, until Grant’s premature death in 2006. Join Robert Forster for an intimate in conversation, intertwined with insights and ancedotes and a special acoustic set - a treat in store for sure!
THE PALACE HOTEL, MANCHESTER
15
SUN
PROGRAMME:
AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING SESSIONS AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING SESSIONS
Saturday – Post Room 1.45-2.15pm Jonh Ingham, David Nolan, Mick O’Shea, Jen Otter Bickerdike,
Graham Jones
3.30-4.00pm Kieron Tyler, Rat Scabies 3.45-4.15pm
Barney Hoskyns, Jonh Ingham
5.30-6.00pm Paul Morley 5.45-6.15pm Steve Ignorant, Matt Worley, Daryl Easlea, Lucy O’Brien 7.30pm
Jordan
7.45-8.00pm
Rosie Garland, Horace Panter, Daniel Rachel
9.45pm
Simon Morrison
Sunday – Post Room 11.30am
Travis Elborough
11.45am Dave Randall, Daniel Rachel, Lucy O’Brien 1.30pm Michael Bradley 1.45pm
Paul Hanley
3.45pm Miles Hunt, David Keenan 6.15pm
Robert Forster
mdmarchive.co.uk
celebrating music and sharing stories
Charity no. 1164179
A deranged Gonzo romp through the finest clubs and gutters of the planet... The mantra of journalist Simon A. Morrison is “Order more booze. Dig in and brace yourself.” Travel with him now to Las Vegas and then Moscow, New York, Shanghai and Stockport. Discombobulated. Disco bonkers. Fifty unbelievably true tales of high living and absolute slumming. Discombobulated: Dispatches from the Wrong Side by Simon A. Morrison. ISBN 978-1-900486-73-6 Published by Headpress. www.headpress.com
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06/10/2016 13:46:03
Omnibus Press are proud sponsors of Louder Than Words Festival 2017 Our celebrated authors are here at this year’s festival: PAU L ‘S M I LER’ ANDERSON • MICK O’SHEA • ZOË HOWE K I E RON T YLE R • CELESTE BELL • J ORDAN • MICHAEL BR ADLEY ROBE RT FORSTER • DARYL EASLEA • DANIEL R ACHEL MILES HUNT • GRAHAM JONES OMNIBUSPRESS.COM
@OMNIBUS PR ES S